RUSSIA EXPRESSES INTEREST IN PARTNERING WITH INDIA FOR PRODUCTION OF COVID-19 VACCINE SPUTNIK

Russia announced the launch of the world’s first coronavirus vaccine a few weeks earlier. Sputnik V, the vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology along with the Russian Defence Force. However, the Russian President is now looking forward to partnering with India in order to produce the vaccine.

Sputnik V, although administered for use in Russia, has not completed clinical trials’ phase III where thousands of volunteers are given a shot of the vaccine and are monitored. However, President Putin announced that the vaccine is “quite effective” and also helps in forming a “stable immunity” against the new novel coronavirus infection.

"We are going to do clinical trials not just in Russia but also in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, probably in Brazil and India. We are planning to produce the vaccine in more than five countries and there is a very high demand from Asia, Latin America, Italy and other parts of the world regarding the delivery of the vaccine," he said.

"The production of the vaccine is a very important issue. Currently, we are looking for a partnership with India. We believe that they are capable of producing the Gamaleya vaccine and it is very important to say that those partnerships to produce the vaccine will enable us to cover the demand that we have," Putin added.

Ginstsburg, the Director of the institute which developed the vaccine has said that more than 20,000 people have taken part in the clinical trials of vaccines and drugs based on human adenoviral vectors and adenoviruses. "Vaccines do not contain live human adenoviruses, but human adenovirus vectors, that is, human viruses that cannot multiply in the body and are completely safe.

"The approach of the Gamaleya Institute with the vaccine, using two human adenoviruses serotypes: number 5 (Ad5) and number 26 (Ad26), has a clear advantage over the one-vector approach used by other developers," Gintsburg said.